Monitoring Post 2012

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Audiodave1

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Dec 27, 2001
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1,853
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Chadds Ford, PA
Time for a monitoring post update...

Radios:
Optocom for mil-air
2005 modified to the hilt including the intenal Optoscan456 card. Used for Aero and UHF-T monitoring.
BC785 local 800/900 TRS monitoring.
BC780 for conventional monitoring VHF mostly.
HP-1 for monitoring whatever at the moment but generally for federal and TRS discovery mode.
BC895 is for data decoding (great for 800 + Unitrunker)
2026 for a few dedicated regional conv. channels and low band.
996 mostly for distant 800 trunking and 700 trunking.
PSR800 spends most of it's time searching and recording federal.
396T is the travel radio.
EF Johnson Viking 8585 for monitoring a Multinet-II system.
Moto HT1250 UHF is not used for monitoring.
ICOMR71A for UTE chasing via a 64' T2FD antenna 35' up in a tree sloped to 6' off the ground.

Outdoor Antennas:
506mhz 10dB Yagi (on a rotor)
866mhz 13db Yagi
860mhz 10dB Yagi
164mhz 6dB Yagi (On a rotor)
Multiband (hidden behind chimney in pix)
6dB 800 Omni (hidden behind chimney in pix)
6dB 770 Omni (hidden behind chimney in pix)
Diamond 130J VHF Discone

Indoor antennas
412mhz 6dB Yagi (on rotor)
935mhz 12dB Yagi (on rotor)
460Mhz 6dB groundplane
RS Discone cut for UHF Mil-Air bands and tacked to the peak of the roof.

4 digital rotor controllers are located below the main monitor.

Cable:
Primarily LMR400 on roof antennas.
Belden 1694A on the indoor antennas

Radio Software:
Yes, many.

A unique feature is my antenna patch bay which is actually a video patch bay
which all radios and antennas run thru. Losses are negligible.

It is located in the open cabinet next to the grey PC tower. All radios have a "Normalled"
antenna connection but with the use of a cord I can route any antenna to any radio quickly.
I also have antenna combiners, splitters, filters and a Grove preamp that may be patched in as needed.

This also provides patching to 2 other rooms in the house which have a BNC wall plate by the prefered TV viewing positions.

My monitoring radius is about 50 miles (for conventional) which provides more than I can listen to from my 270' altitude.

For PC's I run an XPS420 with XP for controlling / programming most of the uniden radios via a 4x serial card.
The older Dell 8200 runs XP for data decoding.

All radios are powered by a PowerOne PSU providing all of the voltages I need and auto cut over to the batteries described below.

I have a back up power system consisting a deep cycle marine cell for the radios and a large UPS for the PC's.

The grounding system is adequate.
Each outdoor antenna has a 6AWG dedicated conductor bonded to it terminating in a block going to a 1/O downfeed to a star grounding system buried in the backyard mulch bed.
Every radio, PC, indoor antenna and patch bay point also is grounded thru individual conductors terminating to a block on the back of the desk then to a 6 awg main feed out to the star ground.
This feed runs down into the crawl space where it has 3' deep grounding rods sunk every 6' until exiting the house. These rods even have a "watering system" consisting of timed aquarium pumps the keep the impedance to earth at a reasonably low level.

I have had some near by strikes and all gear has survived. Needless to say I disconnect when I know it's coming.

Dave
 

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Last edited:

ScannaMan9

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
277
Location
Massachusetts
Nice!
........
(now,where can i put my new addition to look exactly like this???)

all you need is a bed,mini fridge,generator,and security system!!
 
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